*****ORIGINAL ARTICLE: December 19, 2014:
I tend to be long-winded and take forever to get to my point. Often, by the time I get there, the message is convoluted. Stay with me here. That is the reason that I am a doer, and though frequently invited, I rarely/never accept invitations to serve on boards or committees, or anything that requires sitting in a room with a bunch of people for more than 20 minutes. I've been true to that commitment, until this year.
Above: I've never seen a homeless shelter comic, so I had to snag this one - thanks Sally G. for pointing this out to me!
However, somebody I admire (who shall go unnamed!) felt that I was somehow slighted for not getting the position (which went to someone with less experience in homeless issues), and suggested that I serve on the HSOC Housing sub-Committee, which was easy to get on because nobody wants to be on it. By then, I was hooked on the idea of serving on an HSOC committee. My bad.
I have committed to spending a year on the HSOC Housing sub-Committee, and if at the end of a full year, I felt that it had made no difference whatsoever, then that would be the end of it. Yes, I know that in the bureaucratic world that the committee functions in, expecting to make a difference in a mere year is unrealistic. Nonetheless, that was my thought process. Have I made any difference so far? Not that I can tell. But there are still a few months to go.
Why do I avoid joining committees and and attending endless and often pointless meetings? Because they never appear to accomplish anything, but serve to make the participants feel better that they are supporting the cause. Unless I am accomplishing something tangible at these meetings, I feel that I am letting our constituents down. In other words, my time could be better spent doing tangible things to help the homeless.
Also, I apparently suck as a communicator and persuader, because in all my discussions about the causes and solutions to homelessness, I have not changed one person's viewpoint one scintilla (whatever a scintilla is, but trust me, it isn't much). The exception would be my wife, who has come to know the homeless like I have, and has seen that (for the most part), they are decent people who don't deserve the fate that has befallen them. Like me, she sees that society could lift it's little finger one scintilla and "rescue" 70 or 80% of the 3,000 homeless people in our county.
What's lacking is not resources (though that would help), but political will, IMHO. None of the so-called "programs to end homelessness" here in SLO work, yet we keep trying the same things. The things that do work have been written about here extensively, but they will never be tried here or if tried, allowed to succeed, by the powers that be.
Just one example (again). Many of the homeless I interact with just say that they want a place that they can pitch a tent legally, without fear of harassment. Later, maybe build a more permanent structure (like a lean-to) that is more suitable for human shelter, or park an RV there. They don't want and won't go into Case Management - sorry fans. They want to have a decent night's rest, without their heart jumping out of their chest every time they hear a twig snap, for fear that they are about to get rousted out of their hidden camp in the middle of the night and issued citations that they cannot afford to pay.
People say that these people are addicts, bums, drunks, neer-do-wells, criminals, transients, etc. and choose to live this way, or have simply made bad decisions to make them homeless, and will do so again and again and again. I have had Pastors (yes, Pastors) tell me that they have no empathy, sympathy or compassion for the homeless. Okay - pastors are people too - I can understand why someone would have no compassion for the homeless - they're not a very sympathetic bunch, at least the ones that we see in public.
Well, I do have empathy for the homeless (all the homeless - not just the ones that don't smell), and will continue to do what I do. These things are detailed in various web posts on my page here, and have been printed in the New Times, Cal Coast News and The Tribune. You can read one of my articles printed in The Tribune by clicking here. I don't mention this to beat my chest and say look at me. In fact, until recently, few of my friends knew I did any of this, because I never told them, and they never saw me doing these things. Joining that darn HSOC Housing Committee has caused me to dig deeper into the housing side of the issue, causing me to become more public with my views.
I serve at the homeless shelter overflow, 50 Now Program, Prado warming station, etc. as often as I can. I meet with the homeless on the street and discuss their problems and issues, and help in any way I can. That often includes buying them stuff from the grocery store, helping them set up or move their camps, haul away their garbage, provide them with pallets or a new tent, etc. I don't judge them, even though they have their "issues" (don't we all?).
Caution: Note for those few people still reading this: you must take great caution if you are dealing with the homeless out on the streets to make sure that they are not dangerous, and pose no threat to your safety and well-being. Our homeless do have the potential to be dangerous, especially to the vulnerable and inexperienced.
Okay, this message is still long and convoluted. If you are still reading, I thank for listening. Wow, an 1,200 word easy in 30 minutes. More accurate to call it a rant, and a waste of my time that I could better have spent helping someone. See my problem? Peace.
This post is dedicated to a SLO city council person whom I admire for their apparent sympathy for the plight of the homeless, yet still doesn't seem to understand (or agree with) anything that I am saying.
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